1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk player for selecting desired one of a plurality of disks and playing back music therefrom, and more particularly to a disk player with a disk select function in which a magazine storing a plurality of disks therein is accommodated in the same housing as accommodates a disk playback unit.
2. Related Prior Art
The so-called disk changer is known as a recent version of automotive audio equipment. The disk changer is arranged such that a plurality of compact disks are stored in a magazine and, after loading the magazine into the changer, the disk or the music number to be played back is instructed or programmed. In the disk changer, a desired disk in the magazine is selected in accordance with the instruction or program inputted, and is clamped in place by a rotation mechanism (turntable) and a clamper, both provided in a playback unit, for playing back the music.
In the conventional disk changer, however, since a magazine stores many disks, say six or eight, the magazine itself is large in size and a mechanism installed in the magazine to select a desired disk is complicated and takes up space. This so increases the size of outer configuration of the disk changer that it cannot be installed inside the passenger compartment of an automobile and hence have been installed in a trunk or the like. Accordingly, each time the disk magazine is loaded into the changer or replaced with another, a user must open the trunk, which makes handling of the magazine quite troublesome. Further, the conventional disk changer requires a control unit, called a commander, disposed inside the passenger compartment, other than the above-mentioned unit installed in the trunk or the like, leading to a complex, expensive system and an increased number of steps necessary for installation in the automobile.
Meanwhile, a conventional disk playback unit has a mechanism arranged such that a clamp arm for supporting a clamper adapted to press and clamp a disk onto a rotation mechanism (turntable) is lifted and lowered obliquely about a pivot shaft with respect to a chassis of the playback unit. Accordingly, when the clamper is spaced from the rotation mechanism by a predetermined distance, the clamper and the clamp arm are elevated in an oblique attitude, which increases the level (height) of top position of the elevated components and hence avoids a reduction in the unit thickness.
Such an oblique attitude of the elevated clamper with respect to the chassis of the playback unit also raises other problems as described below. First, when a disk stored in the magazine is drawn out therefrom in the disk changer, the disk is led substantially horizontally with respect to the chassis of the playback unit. However, with the clamper lying obliquely as stated above, the fore end of the disk drawn out and delivered from the magazine strikes against the inclined clamper. This produces an undue force acting on the disk being delivered. If the clamper is further elevated to enlarge the space in which the disk is allowed to move, the level of the elevated top of the clamper or clamp arm would be further increased.
Another problem in the conventional clamping mechanism is as follows. In the disk changer, a plurality of disks are stored in the magazine in a stacked fashion, and one desired disk is drawn out of the magazine and clamped in place. The disk stored in the uppermost space of the magazine is drawn out at a position fairly spaced from the chassis of the playback unit and then returned into the magazine at such a spaced position. Accordingly, when the unclamped disk is returned to the uppermost storage space of the magazine after the clamper has been detached upon the completion of playback, the disk must be driven to rise obliquely. Therefore, if a pair of rollers are used, for example, to return the disk into the magazine by their rotation, difficulties would arise in returning the disk into the magazine, resulting in poor reliability of the disk returning operation.